IT HAS been part of our civilization for thousands of years, and also has been abused since the beginning. Today, alcohol remains a commonly consumed and frequently abused substance. Even though alcohol's detrimental effects have long been documented in human history, it has become a cultural staple around the world.
Alcohol has been deemed harmful enough that laws have been put into place to protect our youth. But as the recent underage drinking arrests of President Bush's twin daughters have shown, drinking is pervasive among the young regardless of what the government tries to do about it. In fact, laws designed to protect youths from alcohol actually have the opposite effect.
Underage drinkers see ads on billboards, magazines, and television. They hear numerous stories about its consumption. Even though it is forbidden by U.S. law for anyone under 21 to drink, exposure to alcohol is all around us. These laws originated as measures to try to curb the numbers of teens who were drinking and driving and suffering serious automobile accidents as a result.
Although the numbers of teens involved in drunk driving accidents has decreased, the number of those who do suffer still is quite high. As Mothers Against Drunk Driving reports, 35 percent of deaths of Americans ages 16-20 results from car accidents, and of those accidents, more than a third are reported to involve alcohol.
Though alcohol laws have been put in place to protect, they convert alcohol into a sort of forbidden fruit. Because alcohol becomes a taboo item, it makes children especially curious. It is that mystique that makes youths prone to experimentation as a form of rebellion, particularly during adolescence. According to a 1995 survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention involving over 10,000 high school students, 80.4 percent reported having had at least one drink in their lifetime. In another survey by the CDC, 32.6 percent had admitted having had five or more drinks in one episode. That means that roughly one in every three high school students has been drunk - or close to drunk - at least once in their life.
Among alcohol's dangers is its addictive quality. Youths who have not been taught to drink responsibly can underestimate the power of addiction and be drawn into a very bad and potentially dangerous habit. MADD reports that an estimated 2.6 million teenagers don't know that death can be caused by an alcohol overdose.
Since the law forbids minors from drinking, when people start to drink legally, there is little or no influence from their parents on the issue. With such a powerful and addictive substance as alcohol, it is important for parents to teach their children to drink responsibly. But laws that are in place make that type of education difficult.
Peer pressure also plays a role in underage alcohol consumption. As participants in what has been deemed "socially unacceptable," those who do consume want to make their own solidarity, enticing others to join them. And in a group where the majority of people are drinking, those who abstain from drinking could be pressured passively to fit in. It is this pressure that can make impressionable youths more vulnerable to a bad habit.
Not only do drinking-age laws create this atmosphere, they aren't effective. As the weekend buying habits of many students at colleges around the nation may show, alcohol is a major priority of many underage students.
Gaining access to alcohol is not exactly too much of a challenge. Through fake IDs or older friends, an average student usually has no trouble obtaining alcohol if they want it enough to find a way to get it. The laws merely make gaining access to alcohol just a bit harder.
Though alcohol laws mean well, they inadvertently are fueling the problem they are trying to solve. These laws are ineffective - youths are still getting their hands on alcohol. These laws may lead to social circumstances that pressure youths to experiment. In practice, the laws have converted alcohol into a taboo substance that youths yearn to try and parents cannot legally teach their children how to deal with it.
Alcohol laws should be reevaluated and remade. Perhaps, it would be a better idea to lower the legal drinking age to 18 and make a public campaign for parents to teach their children how to drink responsibly. One way or another, the current drinking laws are not accomplishing their goals, and they must be revised.
(Alex Rosemblat is a Cavalier Daily columnist. He can be reached at arosemblat@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 17 hours agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | YesterdayAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | 6 days agoEvery student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
